A Tangled Web
by jade-tiger1
Summary: An unanswered confession causes Duo to leave, only to return a completely different person. A mission comes, will it cause more problems or will a miracle occur untangling the web that entangles them all.


A Tangled Web by: jade_tiger Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters; I am merely borrowing the characters for my fic.  
  
Warning: Slash!! Which as you all hopefully know means m/m pairings. So if anyone has problems with that sort of thing, do not continue from this point on! I don't want to be the cause of trauma for some idiot who does not read warnings and are freaked with the whole m/m couplings and I don't want people flaming me!! Also there is major (to me at least) angst in this fic...I am not joking whatsoever, to me this is one of my saddest fics, also some parts might include rape and some people will definitely be getting beat bad!! Ok I hope you all understand this because from here on out my warnings will be smaller and will be the basic slash warning. Also this is slightly AU and characters will be OOC.  
  
Chapter One  
  
Duo stood in front of the lake, looking into the dark water as if trying to find the meaning of life. To anyone looking he would look like any teenager his age, with the exception of his long braid and violet eyes, but these aspects were not something to complain about, both his luxurious hair and exotic eyes gave him an almost surreal appearance that instantly attracted people to him. However, if one was to look closer they would see that behind the light in his eyes there was a cynicism and jaded knowledge possessed only by adults who have lived lives that could be compared to that of living in hell. He was a pilot, not just any pilot, he was one of the infamous Gundam Pilots, one of the five youths responsible for the destruction of hundreds of OZ facilities, and taking the lives of countless soldiers.  
  
At the moment thoughts of the next attack, repairs to be made on Death Scythe or anything related to fighting was far from his mind. Right at that moment his thoughts were centered on another pilot, one that had held Duo's heart from the beginning. He had known Heero Yuy since the beginning of the war, and had loved the Prussian eyed teen for about the same amount of time, unfortunately the other was clueless of this fact. Today, that would all change, Duo had made the decision that would change his life, for the better or worse, that was up to Heero, whether or not Heero accepted or rejected him the other pilot would always hold Duo's heart. Duo turned away from the water that reminded him so much of Heero's eyes, and began walking back to the house where he and the other pilots were staying.  
  
Upon entering the large house, which was owned by none other than Quatre Winner, Duo instantly went in search of the brown haired pilot, finally finding him in the library.  
  
"Hey Heero," he said in his customary pleasant tone.  
  
"What do you want Duo?" Heero turned away from his laptop and looked at the braided young man. The Perfect Soldier in him saw a comrade in battle, a fellow soldier that was as dispensable as he himself was; but Heero Yuy, the young man, saw a friend, a companion that always watched his back and the one constant in a life filled with the destruction and death of war. Deeper still, Heero Yuy was seeing the being that held his heart, a heart that was buried in the endless training and experiments from his youth, a heart that he had unknowingly given to the violet eyed youth standing in front of him. However, Heero Yuy was not in control, and would not be until the war finally ended, until the war was finished and peace was achieved the Perfect Soldier was in control, and this meant that no emotional attachment would be made, and no emotion shown to the outside world.  
  
"I-I just...err," Duo hesitated, looking at the cold blue eyes of the other soldier he felt his nerves leave him but hardened his resolve with a deep breath and continued.  
  
"I wanted to say something to you, and I know you'll probably be pissed and try to kill me, but before you do that answer me first ok? Whether it's a positive or negative, just answer me so I'll know we can still be friends ok?" Duo looked at Heero for any reaction but received none, taking a deep breath the pilot of the Gundam Death Scythe continued.  
  
"Heero I...I love you. There I said it, now umm...can you answer me?" He looked at the brunet his eyes shinning with an unspoken hope. Heero stared at his partner in silence his eyes blank, saying nothing, the room seemed to scream with the silence, giving no response, as if he had not heard the confession, he turned away from the other and began typing once again.  
  
Duo stood where he was, the tapping sound seeming to echo in his mind, the sound was accompanied by the shattering sound of his heart splintering in his chest. 'That's it...I've lost my closest friend.... I.... I...oh God...' Duo turned away his eyes glazed over and stumbled out of the library, his mind screaming at him about his stupidity. He walked down the carpeted hallway an arm against the wall guiding him along, at the moment it was also the only thing keeping him upright. He walked blindly along until he entered the living room sitting on the nearest couch he came upon continuing to stare out in space, not noticing Wufei, who was meditating on the window seat. Wufei opened one onyx eye and seeing the violet-eyed pilots expression opened both in concern. He looked at Duo for a few moments, and hearing nothing from the slight American grew more concerned. Standing from his perch he slowly walked to where Duo was sitting and hesitantly sat down.  
  
"D-Duo what's the matter?" His inquiry was hesitantly put, never in the time that he had known the American pilot had he ever seen such an expression; not after an especially bloody battle, not after being wounded badly, not after nearly dieing. Not once had he ever seen such a lost, hopeless, desolate look in the violet eyes. Duo, hearing the question turned his head and stared at Wufei straight in the eye, causing the Chinese teen to suppress a gasp at the seemingly lifeless eyes that looked at him from the face he most associated with laughter, pranks and the feeling of being a teenager in a war and having no care in the world. At the moment all he saw was a pain deeper than any he had ever seen, it was a pain felt by those who had lost their soul or at least a vital part of it, he had seen similar looks in other people's eyes, people who had lost their cause for fighting and people who had lost their will to live any longer.  
  
"Wufei, I-I'm going to go away for a while," Duo said his voice quivering but was his face expressionless and cold, it was the face of a stranger, a stranger that Wufei did not and never wanted to really know.  
  
"Tell me what happened," he insisted, not knowing what the other would do in such a condition. Although he never really seemed to get along with the braided pilot he considered Duo a close friend and they had spoken to one another in the past, out of all four of the other pilots Duo was probably the one that knew him best. "Why are you going? What happened?" At the concerned tone from the Chinese Duo gave a small heartbreaking smile.  
  
"Remember that talk we had a while back? The one about how we all search for something to live for, something that no one could ever live without. Well...I just lost mine Wu...I lost mine." At this point tears had begun to gather in the violet pools and began to fall quietly as if Duo was unaware of the saline drops of liquid pouring from his eyes. Wufei stared at his fellow pilot, his black eyes widened in understanding, seeing the silent tears fall from the beautiful eyes Wufei sighed and gently gathered the other pilot into his arms.  
  
"It's okay, Duo, you'll find something else to live for...don't give up yet...not yet." Wufei gently rocked the other and patted his back, as if he were comforting a small child. "Take as long as you want, I'll take any missions that come up for you," he pulled Duo away and looked at the misery filled eyes, Duo nodded and stood shakily.  
  
"T-thank you Wufei," he said in a strange quiet voice and began to walk slowly out of the room heading to his room.  
  
"Be sure to contact me every now and then, and I'll just tell the others you took a vacation," Wufei assure the black clothed pilot who was moving as silently as any ghost. 'Don't give up hope yet Maxwell. He doesn't know it yet but he cares about you more than he ever will about his missions.' With that he returned to his previous perch and closed his eyes clearing his mind of all thought.  
  
Dinner that night was strained and silent. The silence was caused by the absence of Duo and his usual chatter, which always drew the others into laughing at least once. The strain came from when Quatre had asked the whereabouts of Duo, to which Wufei had answered that their companion needed some time alone from the war and the pain of loss and death, while saying this he had glared at Heero, who showed no reaction to his comments. The thin thread of control broke when Heero had said that Duo had better be back before he compromised on coming mission by his absence.  
  
"Dammit Yuy! Who the hell do you think you are? I know your training does not allow you to let anything interfere with you precious mission but we were not all raised like you!" Wufei had pushed back against the table causing his chair to clatter loudly in the silence. "How can you act like such a cold bastard? It isn't weakness showing emotions, it's a weakness not even being able to admit that you have emotions. You're not being strong you're being weak and stupid!" Trowa and Quatre sat in silence surprised at the outburst of the usually calm Shenlong Pilot, they had seen him angry before, more often than not at Duo, but the anger he showed in the past paled in comparison to the rage they felt radiating from the black eyed youth.  
  
"The only thing he's ever done to you is care enough about your pathetic hide to tell you, and what do you do? You turn him away as if he were some unwanted animal begging for attention! When are you going to realize that you can't live just for the missions you receive? There are things in this life worth more that saying 'mission complete', Yuy. I hope you learn that soon, for your sake as well as his. " With that he stormed out of the dinning room saying nothing else, Heero soon followed leaving Quatre and Trowa sitting at the table confused.  
  
Months passed and only Wufei received word from Duo, and they were often were short and far between. Trowa and Quatre noticed the strain between Wufei and Heero, who couldn't stay in the same room with one another for more than a few minutes, and they even began to notice subtle changes in Heero himself. Often he would sit in front of his laptop and instead of his usual routine of typing away he'd just sit and stare off in space a lost look in his eyes, and if it was possible, he had gotten even more silent and cold than before, talking less and less. His missions were, as always flawlessly executed but now it was as if he fought a losing battle, not in the war but in himself.  
  
Trowa, Quatre and Wufei were sitting in the living room, with Trowa and Quatre talking quietly and Wufei meditating when Heero came in carrying a printout.  
  
"We have a mission," he said abruptly, handing each of them a paper outlining their mission. "It's surveillance, we are to go to Gold Crest Academy. It's a boarding school, and the scientists think that OZ might be using the school for recruiting new soldiers. Our mission is to infiltrate the school and find the undercover OZ agent working on the inside; once we do we are to eliminate him or her. Does everyone understand?" The three nodded in understanding, each silently reading over the paper they held. Quatre read over his part of the mission and gave an exasperated sigh, and his eyes narrowed at the next part he read.  
  
"Heero, it says here, two pilots will be going in as females, and it points out that I am to be one of them, but the other is Duo, and we don't even know where he is," the petit blond looked at the brunet, azure eyes serious. "How can we go on with the mission if he's missing?"  
  
"He's not missing Quat, I'm right here," said a cool voice as Duo walked in, his eyes shuttered. The self proclaimed God of Death was wearing his usual black garb, but now it was a though he was shrouded in a cold layer of ice, untouchable and emotionless. It was like looking at another version of Heero at his worst, only this version resembled someone who was known for his warm and friendly demeanor, not for this cold harshness that the pilots were faced with.  
  
"Duo, you're back!" Quatre said smiling widely at their braided companion, moving forward and happily hugging the braided pilot, who did nothing but stand in his arms. "How have you been? Where have you been? Wufei didn't tell us anything at all," the Arabian pulled away slightly and smiled at his friend. The smile slowly melted off the blond pilot's face as he glimpsed the contents, or lack thereof, in the violet eyes. Where once they shone with mirth now they were blank, a dark violet bordering on black. "D-Duo? Are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine Quat, don't worry," the nickname, coined by Duo himself did nothing to assure the slight teen, who moved back to his seat as Duo walked forward and sat down next to Wufei, saying nothing to the others.  
  
"Good to see you again Maxwell," Wufei said, nodding slightly to the braided pilot, who nodded back in acknowledgement.  
  
"So what's the plan? The scientists contacted me and told me to return here, I'm here." Heero silently handed Duo a printout, his Prussian eyes unreadable as the gazed upon his fellow pilot.  
  
"It's a reconnaissance mission at a school," said Trowa his one visible forest green eye looking contemplatively at Duo, as if trying to read the shorter pilot's mind. "We are to send two 'female' pilots in and the rest will follow. We are to find an undercover OZ agent, and eliminate him or her."  
  
"Understood," Duo said abruptly, standing and heading for the door. "I guess Quatre and I will be these females, so I'll get ready, the printout said we'll to leave tomorrow. I want to make a request though," he said pausing and turning to look at the four who remained in the room, unmoving. "It says that there will be three of us to enter the school first, I'd like the third to be Wufei." With that Duo left his braid swaying in his wake. The four remaining pilots stood all in different stages of shock, ranging from slight confusion to outright befuddlement, in the case of Quatre, who did not understand how Duo could change so much in such a short amount of time.  
  
"I guess we should get ready," Trowa said, standing up and walking out of the room, followed by Quatre, who inquired on what he thought happened to Duo. Heero and Wufei remained both looking at one another, silently conveying messages with their eyes.  
  
"I know I don't have to tell you, but I will," said Heero breaking the silence, his tone diamond hard and razor sharp. "Watch over them both, if anything happened to him before Trowa and I get there I will hold you responsible, Chang." With the final threat the Perfect Soldier walked out and headed to his room to take care of the paper work required for the mission.  
  
"Like I'm going to be able to stop him from doing anything he wants to," Wufei muttered, walking to his room thinking of the possibilities of the mission going wrong.  
  
to be continued  
  
tiger: well? what do you guys think?  
  
Wufei: i'm friends with that thing? *looks at Duo* is that even humanly possible? tiger: it is now! ^______^ you can thank me later! *huggles Wufei*  
  
Wufei: aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!! get it off get it off!!!  
  
Duo: *pout* no one loves me!!! ;_____; how can you do that to me Heero? *sniffsniff* tiger: awwwww i love you Duo!! *glomps Duo* and besides you got Wufei to keep you company!! Heero: what?! *glares at Wufei* keep those hands to yourself Chang if you like them, cause i tell you you will lose them if you don't!!  
  
Wufei: you think i'd willingly touch that thing?! *points to duo* you can have it!! the only reason i touched it was because she *points at tiger* is an insane maniac!!  
  
tiger: hey!! i resemble...i mean resent that remark!!  
!!please review!! 


End file.
